Sir, – If anyone said today to coloured members of our Irish community that they should not have the right to marry one another, he or she would rightly be accused of making a racist comment. If this is the case, does it not logically follow that it would be equally unjust of anyone to state publicly to members of the Irish homosexual community that they should not have the legal right to marry each other?
Could anything be more simple and just than to look into one’s heart and see that love between two consenting adults is as equal and just and as meaningful as love between all consenting adult couples. The emotions of human heart should be superior to the passions of old long-standing principles and traditions. – Yours, etc,
SEAN O’BRIEN,
Clonliffe Road, Dublin 3.
Sir, – Following Kevin Butler’s call (January 31st) for the State to “exit the marriage battlefield”, may I propose the Government introduce the Colourful Partnership Bill.
Based on the equality of the primary colours, and with red and yellow representing male and female, the combination of the two equates to orange. Partnerships could then be colour coded and any nuances and inequalities catered for in legislation.
Such a move would: 1. Rid us of all references to homophobes, subhumans, vampires and the Catholic Church; 2. Overcome any deficiencies in the Civil Partnership Act and 3.For those who still want to trade in insults, those who dissent can be regarded as suffering from chromophobia. – Yours, etc,
SEAMUS O’CALLAGHAN,
Bullock Park, Carlow.
Sir, – At the risk of being described by “Catho-phobes” as a “homo-phobe”, may I suggest that attacks on the stance of the Church of Rome may be misplaced.
I understand that the church is unique among western churches in having seven sacraments of which one is "matrimony". The modern "techie" generation will presumably be unaware that "matrimonium", its Latin root (alongside its Latin cognate "maritrare") is to do with the state of "motherhood".
Whether you believe evolution was divinely set up or was the result of an infinity to one chance “Big Bang”, it remains an objective fact of evolution that the sole means of reproducing the human species is through the conjunction of the male sperm and the female egg, whether artificially or, hopefully, through more pleasurable methods. It follows then that a same sex couple cannot both be the biological parent of the same child, nor can one partner impregnate the other so as to make the other a mother. How can one expect the Church of Rome whether theologically or logically to confer (if that is the right term) matrimony in such cases?
The English word “wedding” has none of this awkwardness attached. To “wed” is to “pledge” so let the Government bring forward same-sex weddings. As far as I know, the Irish word “pósadh” has no awkwardness either so it might fit for the Irish translation of the legislation.
At the same time, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan might abolish all tax and legal reliefs applicable to the married and civil partnership states, because it is more and more clear that marriage as a vehicle for producing children is of far less relevance today than ever before. – Yours, etc,
GERALD MURPHY,
Marley Avenue,
Marley Grange, Dublin 16.